


Once More, With Feeling

by VolxdoSioda



Category: Death Stranding (Video Games)
Genre: AU, Ficlet, Gen, hints of Higgs/Sam if you turn your head sideways and squint, spoilers for the end game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21772243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: Higgs dies there, on Amelie's Beach.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45





	Once More, With Feeling

Higgs dies there, on Amelie's Beach.

When given the option of suicide or remaining behind - well. Higgs is many things, but afraid is not one of them. Ironically, it's what led him to being a porter in the first place. That, and the ambition to be _the best _in the business. To one day have his name spread coast-to-coast, to have the world rely on Higgs Monaghan to get their packages to their doorstep safely. 

Life as a terrorist hasn't changed that. He still has the ambition to be _the best, _to be seen, to have the world know him. But it's clear that the game has reached it's end, at least on his half of the deal. Fragile and Sam are a vicious pair of brutes, and with Fragile all but shoving the gun into his hand, the preferred option is clear.

And Higgs isn't about to let himself go crazy on the Beach. Time passes differently, and he might never age, but he'd _know, _and he would go mad with it. 

So he shoots himself. Doesn't even hesitate, and he's proud of that too, that there wasn't so much a flicker in his resolve at the end. He did what had to be done, and didn't regret it. 

Although he _does _regret not being allowed to stick around and see the look on Sammy Boy's face when shit finally hits the fan. _That _would have been beautiful.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Dying on a Beach is supposed to mean there's no endgame. If he were like Sam, magical and unique, he couldn't repatriate. He'd die, and stay dead.

Except he isn't, and he still doesn't, because the universe loves spitting in his eye one last time, apparently. Instead of just vanishing into the ether from whence they all rose, Higgs opens his eyes to warmth from manufactored light. He’s back in his old bunker, back before Sam Porter Bridges, back before Amelie. Back before _any _of it.

For a long time, Higgs stays in the little cot that held him for his entire life. That saw him through the death of his abuser, and the life beyond. It’s as comfortable as it’s ever been, and it grounds him, that reminder of comfort. He listens to the fan quietly whirr above him, the hum of the electricity as it moves through the wires. He still has his DOOMs - and he remembers dying. Remembers Sam, remembers doing as he was told to do. But that future feels hazy now, like a lost dream that he only remembers because something triggered the memory. It feels like something he could forget, if he wanted to.

When he finally does get up nearly three hours later, his first action is to get something to eat. His fridge is well-stocked, and the front of it has numerous different colored post-its stuck with dates and thoughts - back when he was a porter, they were valuable on the go. If he was gone for a long period of time (almost always), or had something else to do, it ensured everything got done on time. He doesn’t read what the notes say, because he already knows that - the more he moves, the more that future he lived and died in feels like a dream, or a nightmare, falling away from his mind. He still remembers everything, but he’s no longer in that world, in that moment.

Instead, he knows that he has six shipments due in Port Knot by 9 AM, two more shipments that are supposed to be in Capital Knot an hour after _that, _and five more shipments due in Edge Knot three hours after that. A very full day, and it’ll be dark by the time he manages to get back - assuming he does, which also assumes he won’t be catching brief naps when he has time, like he always does. Thankfully, he has people everywhere, so he knows he can hand the shipment to Edge Knot off to someone else, and take on the Port Knot and Capital Knot shipments himself.

Maybe if Higgs were someone other than himself, he would be a little more freaked out about what’s happened. Would be questioning things a little more closely. Higgs has learned to stop questioning though, to roll with the punches as they come, and to keep moving forward no matter what comes before him. Both as a terrorist and a porter, he knows that any obstacle can be overcome with the right tools.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

In his old life, before he’d really come to know Amelie and her powers, he’d been a firm supporter of the UCA. One of their greatest advocates, in fact. Before Amelie and her powers, he’d been willing to put himself between the business end of a gun and someone from the UCA to keep them safe.

Now however, it’s a different world. At least in his head. He’s been on both sides, and now more than ever he understands why people would never bow their heads to the UCA. Why they would never join, no matter how many favors the UCA porters did, how many favors Bridges did. No matter who came to their doorstep.

There is a choice here. He’s fine with playing porter again - hell, it’s almost a breeze now, compared to how it was before. He can’t run his operations like he runs - ran - his Demens, but he can still have standards and expectations. And that’s fine too, because his people get shit done.

He keeps an ear to the ground, and eventually he hears the words he’s been waiting for - Amelie is coming to Edge Knot. Trying to connect them to the chiral network. Trying to make them _whole._

_Except you already did that, didn’t you honey? And just like you wanted, they snatched you up, so you had a reason for Sammy-boy to run after you. _Which brings an interesting question to the table. Because Higgs still has his DOOMs, and if he wanted to, he could go to Amelie’s side again. Let himself use that wild power to turn the BTs on Sam, to ruin his life all over again. After all, the Death Stranding hasn’t stopped.

But he wondered, briefly, once, what life would have been like _alongside _Sam, rather than _against. _Two formidable men against the world. Not just one legendary porter, but a pair and a brand to back them. Him and Sam, as one, showing the people that there was nothing to fear.

It was a daydream, in the other life. Now though, if Higgs wants it bad enough, he can make it happen. He can manipulate, spread word that Amelie and the UCA are on their way, and Amelie is the weakness. Tell a few folks who would tell a few more, and then more, and more, until—

Sam didn’t want anything to do with Bridges, in that old world. Die-Hardman and his little possey weren’t the only ones who could listen in on secret meetings and record them. Even now, it gives Higgs the shivers to remember Sam’s tone when he said, “_You saw to that.”_

_Bridges ran him out, and then begged for his help. This time though, they won’t have that chance. This time, he’ll be mine for keeps - and I’ll take such good care of him, he’ll never want to leave. _

It’ll be slow work. Meticulous - every detail will have to line up just so, and his cover story will have to be flawless. But Higgs has that patience, that willingness to wait. He’ll go slow enough nobody will realize what is happening, not even Sammy-boy himself.

And at last Higgs will have himself a legend. _The _legend, even. The world will burn, but he and Sam will keep on keeping on, as they should. As good porters do.

They are the best, after all.


End file.
